a bump to jim on the value of a pearl

LA PEREGRINA (perla)

a wandering teardrop of fine elegance
inspiring men to music and artistry
for in beauty like Maurice Ravel's
Pavane Por Une Infante, it's now linked

thus he said, from his vivid imagination
composed and created by inspiration
from viewing some tiny Spanish princess
in a Valasquez painting ... haunting jewel

Valasquez hung this with his inspirations,
this great pearl on other royal necks
a gem in many of his masterful paintings
had we known, we'd have gazed there

legends live on, and find links together,
such given again to royalty, a pavane
played solemnly during the grief-ridden
memorials for the young Princess Di

and the wandering Spanish Pearl prize
finally bought by a grand movie queen
for what mere amount for such a history
but therein lies the beauty again indeed

for a slave once gained his freedom
by finding la peregrina perla treasure
which only makes mute slaves of men
gazing where it is royally cradled again

what music may we hear for each of them
only ocean song waves do justice for kin
and sunsets flare to quiet twilight's hue
are the only paintings that give them due

(c) 2003 Rennie Lorca

A slave found this great pearl off the coast of Panama. For such a magnificant find, he was granted freedom. Don Diego de Termes presented it to Philip II of Spain, who gifted it to his queen, Mary Tudor. For the next couple of centuries, it was part of the Spanish Treasury. Velasquez included it in many of his famous paintings.

Composer Maurice Ravel wrote his most haunting pavane with a tiny Spanish princess in mind after viewing a painting by Valasquez. This beautiful teardrop pearl (perla) has a long history of wanderings, but wound-up in France. Louis Napoleon sold it to the Marquis of Abercorn to get out of financial problems.

A stunning teardrop pearl, La Peregrina: 203.84 grains (four grains to a carat). In 1969, Elizabeth Taylor bought it at a Sotheby's auction. Cartier's made a beautiful necklace for her from this great pearl.